ON THE LAND.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13780, 19 June 1908, Page 9

ON THE LAND.

J PUMICE LANDS. ■jUn. "W. .Tones, Waikirio, writes: — "Tho following may be of interest to those who have been reading tho articles published ;,:', ill your journal on ■' Pumico Lands.' "While I was working at Matapuna, in tho King Country, close to Taumarunui, I saw ; ; / a patch of oat*, over five feet high, growing in pumice, similar to the country around IMokai. It was growing in an enclosure, where a horse had been stabled for some months. No doubt pumico country, properly treated, could be turned into profit. Perhaps you hare noticed how well any seed grows which has been carried by birds or animals. Perhaps this is due to somo chemical encountered in the stomach, as manuring alone will not cause such prolific growth." ' ENSILAGE AND SHEEP. In a paper rend at one of the conferences of the Farmers' and Settlors' Association of New South Willi's, it was stated that over 10,000 sheep had been fed . for 10jf ■ weeks on ensilage, at a cost of a little over ii shilling per head for the whole period, ;- including cost of making the silage, distribution, and supervision. The value of these sheep was put down, roughly:—8000 first-class breeding ewes at 15s each, £6000; and 2000 rams at £4 each, £8000; a total of £14,000. It is not supposed that the whole of these' 10.000 valuable sheep would have died had there been no artificial fodder at hand, but as the looses of stock in tho district were very heavy at that time, it may be presumed that a portion of the. mob would have succumbed. Yet the cost of keeping the sheep in good condition was only a little over a penny per head per week. THE FALL IN WOOL. . . Mr. J. Davidson, Pulurtmi, writes:—"lt ':'■: ■'; tec-ems remarkably strange to mo when any of tho commercial magnates arc speaking on the fall in tho price of wool that they always keep clear of the right, cause—-over-productionand attribute it to something else. The plain fact is that, tho supply exceeds tho demand. There arc more sheep in every country in the world, with the. exception of Germany, and perhaps Australia, than there has over been before. Another thing at the present time—two sheep will now clip a.-> much wool as three did ten years ago. Of course, tho financial '•:'.,■■. crisis in America has had a slight effect on the. price of wool, to the. extent of perhaps a penny a pound, no more. Take America, North and South both combined, they produce more wool than they require. Now, sir, I know a little about this subject, as I have been interested in wool and.sheep for the last 30 years. In 1906 -'' I had several conversations with a number of farmers, and remonstrated with them on tho price they were paying for both sheep and land, as there, were bad times coming; hut they knew better—wool and sheep would never bo low in price again. They will ■}' /." know better now. Without a war breaks out between some of the lug Powers, wool will gradually get lower in price for tho next four or five years. Even if a drought wore to overtake Australia, it would take '; that number of years before it; would haveany marked effect on the markets of the world, as Australia dominates the world in the wool trade." EXPERIMENTS BY FARMERS. V Field experiments made by farmers in their own fields are not intended to solve prob- ■■■■-. lems connected with the general practice of agriculture, but to afford information us to '/ the special needs of tho farmer's owu fields, :•:':?■' ' and to show in how far ho can increase Lis profit or economise by the addition or omisv'.:;■,." sion of, certain fertilising ingredients. . .1 ;;■.'.;' It is. the province of scientific institutions ' ;- to investigate general principles. It is the province of the individual farmer to uncertain by trials on his own fields to what ex- ; . font the result obtained by the institutions aro applicable to his farm. Every farmer should make such expert* • : ments, because the results will afford guidance to be obtained to accurately in no ! ' other way. It is by such means that he can find out what kinds and quantities of tho different fertilising ingredients will -.•■ yield tho best results; in what constituents ho can economise, and in what ho should bo more liberal. Before tho introduction of artificial manures the treatment of the soil was a simple f matter; but now that tho farmer has at his disposal a variety of artificials, and is recommended to expend considerable sums '<'..■■.' . of money on them, it is essential that he ;.■ ..should ascertain by actual experiment rnd calculation how far tho expenditure will re- : sult in an increased profit. He should examine this question just as carefully as any '.;". other manufacturer before incurring outlay 1 for increased machinery and plant calcu- '■' lates how -far tho expenditure will be remunerative. It may bo thought. that an analysis ,of the soil, or the results obtained at an agricul- ' tural scientific institution, afford sufficient guidance, but it is not so. Chemical analysis, useful as it may be, will not show conclusively the quantity of the available plant food in tho soil; the results obtained . : : at the institution, .'also useful in a general way and admirable as sign-posts showing the direction, do not indicate with precision tho ■;■'■'.■ special requirements of the farmer's land; nothing can reveal this need but a trial on ;.i ; ;', . the spot. ;' It, is not difficult to arrange an experiment in a simple manner, but which will i nevertheless afford useful information; in $\; fact, tho simpler the experiment the better, and the less likely to lead to incorrect or s • indefinite conclusions. At the same time it. must not. bo forgotten that the results of uno season's experiments are only of relative value, because the conditions of cli- '•■...■' mate and weather may be quite different the following year, mi that more ' reliable results are obtained by experiments conducted over a scries of years upon which the ave- \ rage can be calculated. 'i Now. supposing it farmer is a big grower :: ! ft potatoes; hitherto lie has been using and getting good results from large, dressings of farmyard manure and stable manure api; plied at the rate of 20 to 21) lons per acre; : ' hut farmyard manure mid stable manure, drawn from towns, are getting scarce, and tho application of Mich a large quantity is very expensive, ,-<> he is going to try artificials to supplement the natural manure. He is told that he must apply artificials containing ammonia, phosphate of lime, and potash, but as hi.- soil is loamy clay, and ;. has had for years heavy dressings of clung, is .'•■:■,; it necessary to apply all these constituents? This is the problem to be solved by the grower; lie can get an idea from the ex- '>-': perts of a local institution, but he cannot '-: get from them really definite, guidance. v\ So he makes the following experiment. He arranges a number of plots of uniform size, : . ; V ' ' -say one-twentieth of an acre, and trios tho following:— A: Usual dressing farmer.- yard manure. Plot 13: Half dressing farmyard manure supplemented by mixture of iV ; ' ljcwt sulphate of ammonia, 4cwt super- ; .".;.'• phosphate, lewt sulphate and potash per acre. Plot C: Same treatment, leaving out : : the sulphate of ammonia. Plot, D: Same treatment, leaving out the sulphate ofpotash. Plot E: Same treatment, leaving cut the superphosphate. The plots should ail bo duplicate in order to check one another. Another plot might bo left untreated without farmyard manure or artificials. The crops from the respective plots ;,; ' carefully collected ami weighed would af- ; ,' ford mo;), useful evidence, and would bo ■inioi.fi interesting to watch during growth. If the grower felt disposed to take more :■' trouble, other plots could lie arranged to - , , "'4 nitrate of soda as a top-dressing against •ulphtito of ammonia in the mixture, or to !!i fewest the" efficiency of muriate of potash ; , «I»itiist, sulphide of potash, or to test the i: "I- ivc % «|., r of gIWIIO, which is ' nutih « ,; Iwpuutc potato manure. ■■•.-,•" , lilfefe:.;' -.'"■. .•-'■..'.■:■■

COMBATING WIRE WORMS. Professor Wrightson calls attention to a method of combating wireworm ravages, which deserves as wide publicity as possible. A friend of his sowed some kiln-sweated barley in the same field with some not so treated. To his surprise, though all came tip satisfactorily, the uusweatccl portion died away from the attacks of wireworms, while the treated portion grew all right. The owner thought the matter over, and came to the conclusion that it must be due to the effect of the sulphur fumes derived from the burning coko in the kilns which had the beneficial effect, and followed this up by constructing a fan and stove by which he could fumigate all his seed corn, and he states he has never seen a sign of wireworm since. In addition to this, he has never had smut in hits wheat either, co that a double benefit has accrued. The above has been a success for several years, though only made public now, and it certainly seems worth trying and is simple enough. A fan and stove might cost something, especially as the fan would need power to drive it, but the fumigation of seed with burning sulphur ought not to be a very difficult matter. Where kilns already exist at corn mills, malt houses, and similar places, it would be easy for anyone to try the operation. No dressing to the soil seems of much use with these and other pests, but if this treatment of the seed is effectual it will make a wondorful difference to some of us.